


Comby

by ailixandrite2dot0 (AILiSeki)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26717011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AILiSeki/pseuds/ailixandrite2dot0
Summary: So, Era 3, huh?A character study of Comby.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Comby

Steven told her she could be anything she wanted. It was a little hard to consider the possibilities when her form was clearly suited for just one purpose.

* * *

Blue Diamond didn’t use her anymore. She told it to her followed by the same words as Steven. She still didn’t know what she wanted. She actually wouldn’t mind remaining as a comb, but that seemed not to be an option.

She met others like her in the palace. Other gems made for very specific purposes, that had spent most of their existence in a single place, unmoving. All over the former Empire, gems were struggling with the idea of freedom, but these gems, like her, were struggling with their whole sense of self.

Before it was all being seen but not heard, not noticed. You had to be quiet and still - she just now learned that she could jump around and it was almost the same as walking! You just stayed there, an object and not a person, but Steven believed all gems were people. She was not sure if a giant hair comb like herself counted.

* * *

She had a name. She was usually called Comby, but that referred to her form, not her gem. She was Jade. A very peculiar Jade whose purpose was to be Blue Diamond’s comb, instead of adorning the balls. It felt too strange to be called Jade, despite it being correct. Jades had arms and legs and dresses; they could salute and bow and dance. She was a hair comb.

* * *

Yellow Diamond once called all of them, the walls and statues and even the Pebbles, and Comby as well, to show what her new powers could do. It was amazing, she could alter their physical forms in any way she wished, permanently. She could give them arms and legs in any shape, and change anything they wanted to make their lives better.

Comby considered the possibilities. She could ask to be turned into a proper, regular Jade. Instead she politely thanked the Diamond and said she was satisfied with her form.

She surprised herself with the statement but realized that it was true. She didn’t have arms or legs, and she couldn’t dance gracefully like a Jade. But she could walk, and talk with her friends, share with them old gossip she learned in Blue Diamond’s extraction chamber. She could participate in some of Spinel’s games, and she had learned from a fusion visiting the palace once about meditation, which she now practiced daily. And she could sing - one of the Jades knew of a place where she could perform. The Jades were very kind to her ever since they met, but she wasn’t sure if other gems would take her seriously in that form. But it was her form, the one that felt right, so she decided it wouldn’t be an obstacle for her new life.

**Author's Note:**

> This was of course inspired by the Wall Gem in Homeworld Bound, jumping around as a block of wall and living her best life.
> 
> I care a lot about the palace gems. I like the idea that they don’t need to change to something completely different to live a happy, fulfilling life (though I do believe some accepted Yellow’s proposal to change their forms and they’re equally valid and amazing).


End file.
